IS-2
The IS-2, named after Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (JS) / Iosif Stalin (IS, in Cyrillic Ио́сиф Ста́лин "ИС") was a Soviet heavy tank, the successor of the IS-1. One of the most powerful tanks of World War II, it was heavily armed with a long-barreled 122 mm gun and well-sloped thick armor. It first appeared in the anime during Episode 8. History In 1943, IS-2 was developed to replace the KV-1, because it was completely obsolete with its poor mobility and weaponry to deal with new German tanks such as the Tiger I. The heavy tank project started gradually, from light and fast heavy KV-1S, average and decent heavy KV-85, the first phase of the IS heavy tank, the IS-85/IS-1, to the most successful phase, the IS-122/IS-2 Model 1943 and IS-2 Model 1944. IS-2 Model 1943 '''Modification The IS-2 Model 1943 immediately entered into service in April 1944. It was armed with a 122 mm A-19 Gun for both anti-tank and anti-infantry purposes. The frontal armor scheme of this model was stepped 120 mm frontal armor plates, this broken nose design had been transferred over from its predecessor the IS-1. '''IS-2 Model 1944 '''Modification The 122 mm A-19 Gun was developed into the purpose designed with a ''122 mm D-25T '' gun, with better fire control and improved performance against enemy armor, such as the Panther. The stepped 120 mm frontal armor plates were replaced by a single sloped 90 or 100 mm frontal armor plate, increasing the armor effectiveness drastically, despite a reduction in thickness. It had the capability to withstand most enemy ordinance including in some cases the PaK43 L/71. A total of 3,854 IS-2s were produced during WWII and it was assigned to heavy tank regiments deployed for major offensive actions. While successful, it suffered from a low rate of fire and reduced ammo storage. IS-2 was a very effective heavy breakthrough tank, largely due to its impressive 122 mm gun and well-sloped armor. Its gun was primarily designed for infantry support, in particular as a 'bunker buster' however the gun quickly showed excellent performance against enemy armor due to the high caliber gun that could maximize the effectiveness of both armor-piercing ballistic capped (APBC) shell and high-explosive (HE) shell. Amazing over 3 days in July 1944 a regiment of IS -2s destroyed 23 Tigers and Panthers for the loss of 11 vehicles. It could destroy most of the heavily armored tanks with just a direct hit from an APBC shell. It was also well-suited to take out enemy infantry and fortifications by utilizing HE shells. After the war the IS-2 model 1944 remained in service with the soviet army's until the 1960's when it was transferred to the reserve service and storage, However it remained in service with several allies of the USSR such as China North Korea Cuba and several Warsaw pact members, The tank remained in service with the South Ossetian military until 1995. In Girls Und Panzer Pravda Girls High School has an '''IS-2 Model 1944, designated as the main attack force to knock out as many tanks as possible by using its main gun. The IS-2 served as the main heavy tank unit for Pravda during the semifinals against Ooarai Girls Academy. It was very accurate despite the gun size, as shown when Nonna was assigned as IS-2 gunner by Katyusha after being a commander in her T-34/85. Going so far with the highest score during the match, it knocked out Rabbit Team's M3 Lee and Mallard Team's Char B1 bis from long range while moving. it also damaged Duck Team's Type 89B (Ooarai's flag tank), but barely survived after the shell exploded in front of its right track, severely damaging it. References *IS-2 (Wikipedia) *IS-2 Specifications (WWIIVehicles) * IS-2 Official Anime Web (GirlsUndPanzer) Trivia * IS-2 was featured in World of Tanks separately as Soviet heavy tank IS (Tier 7) and Chinese heavy tank IS-2 (Tier 7). * Midoriko Sono mistakenly calls it the "Molotov", after the Soviet Foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov. * Although the tank is meant to represent a Model 1944, there is an actual error in the vehicle's 3D model; this being the usage of the narrow gun mantlet which was only a feature of the IS-1 and early models of the IS-2 instead of the wide gun mantlet which was already introduced to late Model 1943 variants ''and was a standard feature of all ''Model 1944 ''vehicles. * Unlike the Churchill, the IS-2 was named after the anglicized initialism of Joseph Stalin (Ио́сиф Ста́лин, ''Iosif Stalin''''). Gallery Category:Tanks Category:Russian Tanks Category:Heavy Tanks Category:Pravda Girls' High School Category:TemporaryCategory